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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29931099">stuck on the surface level</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/dappledleaves/pseuds/dappledleaves'>dappledleaves</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alliances, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Character Study, Gen, Jack Manifold-centric, No Dialogue, Spies &amp; Secret Agents, Weapons, and a darn good one, jack manifold is a shapeshifter, look at him go, powers!AU</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 22:20:20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,247</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29931099</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/dappledleaves/pseuds/dappledleaves</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack hates the powers they all have. Hates his own most of all. How can he not, when it’s the only part of him that people seem to care about?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jack Manifold &amp; Toby Smith | Tubbo, Jack Manifold &amp; TommyInnit, No Romantic Relationship(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>109</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Ad Honorem [Walmart DSMP]</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>stuck on the surface level</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>hello! to anybody wondering, this is a powers! au, created by some lovely people on the discord server im on. fics from this universe will be posted in the collection linked above!</p><p>this fic is based on the characters, not the content creators themselves. please respect them!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>It starts when he is recruited into L’manburg’s ranks.</p><p>The revolution is over, that he is sure of - and Tubbo is full of reassurances that it’s only a precaution. Peace has been achieved, and both Niki and Jack’s recruitments are simply an increase in their strength and ability to nurture said peace.</p><p>L’manburg has a strange understanding of the word peace, it seems. Peace includes nights of patrols, and days spent in training centers as they learn to understand how their abilities might best be applied in combat. Jack’s training boils down to one activity: becoming anyone but himself, over and over, until the speed of his transformation rivals that of a blink. Shapeshifting is what he calls it, what he has called it since the day his power manifested alongside everybody else’s - and shapeshifting is what Tubbo writes down on his chart, with other words like <em> promising </em> and <em> useful </em> and <em> spy. </em></p><p>Peace also includes taking the faces of those L’manburg opposed and defeated in their rebellion, and using said faces to cause chaos and add insult to their injuries. What part of this is peaceful, Jack does not know. But he does not question it in public. Only in the safety of his own housing does Jack seethe and rage at the unknowable force that has brought these powers into all of their lives. Only by gaining an affinity with weapons has Tubbo been led to never be seen without them, trusting in his blades to keep him safe more than allies or friends ever will. Only by receiving the ability to talk to animals has Tommy gained a thirst for information about all those who might oppose him - recruiting animals to act as his eyes and ears in Dream’s lands and Tommy’s own. Fundy’s discovery of his power - walking through the dreams of others - has led him to disappear for days on end, spending most of his life lost in sleep. </p><p>In truth - he despises these powers. Loathes what they’ve done to the people he cares about. </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>It starts, it <em> really starts, </em> when Tommy approaches him with a mission from Wilbur, talking about how Jack can really make a difference here - how this will help immensely in keeping the peace. It’s a mission for a Shapeshifter: infiltrating the ranks of Dream’s empire to cause even more chaos than what he’s already achieving. Tommy wants him to disrupt plans, provide false reports, perhaps even sow a few seeds of doubt here and there. It’s a lot of trouble to go through against an enemy that has generally left L’manburg alone since they solidified their independence - but that is just another thought for Jack to file away in his mind. He takes the mission file he is provided with, unaware of how many more the future hold, unknowing of the focus of interest that will be placed on his power.</p><p>When Tommy asks him to wear the King’s face in order to steal their crown, he obliges. When he’s asked to frame Dream burning L’manburg supplies, he does not object, and takes the flint and steel he is offered. When Tubbo asks him - tired and weary-eyed - if he can take his place at the meeting that has been called, he borrows his friend’s appearance without so much as an objection. </p><p>The time he is asked to become Wilbur for a day - specifically the year’s anniversary since L’manburg’s declaration of independence - because the President fears something as drastic as an assasination attempt, Jack begins to wonder how much he is wanted here - and how much of his appeal comes from the power he has. </p><p>Perhaps that is why he isn’t as upset as he probably should be when Schlatt becomes President. Perhaps that is why when L’manburg is turned into something new and harsh and unrecognisable, he is one of the only ones to stay with no real ulterior motive in mind. </p><p>When Schlatt offers him a place on his cabinet, Jack accepts. It might be one of Schlatt’s powers - controlling minds - that is making him believe that this government is going to succeed and thrive - but if it is, Jack doesn’t really care anymore. Schlatt doesn’t focus on powers nearly as much as L’manburg did; he hardly even focuses on his citizens at all, save for when he’s exposing them as double agents at festivals. </p><p>It can’t last, though. It never does. He’s asked - ordered, more like - to shapeshift into Tommy and find the location of Pogtopia. Learn Wilbur’s plans and secrets. Bring them down from the inside.</p><p>And the thing is: if Schlatt had asked him to go as himself, then Jack thinks he might actually have considered doing it. But he only wants Jack’s power.</p><p>He is a bottomless lake - but all anyone cares about is the surface level. His power causes nothing but inconsequential ripples, but with how much attention it gets it might as well be a wave crashing against the rocks, white sea foam spraying the gale-like winds.  </p><p>Nobody notices an ocelot slip out of a window, slinking into the trees. He wonders if anybody notices he’s gone.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>It starts again, when Niki tracks him down. Words tumble from her lips, promising revenge. Jack is just glad that she doesn't bring up peace. It's a refreshing difference - enough so, that he agrees to hear her out. See where this goes. </p><p>By this point, he's used to being what others need him to be. </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Throughout Tommy's exile, Tubbo finds him in the quiet moments, when Dream isn't threatening war and his cabinet isn't off causing chaos. It's in those moments, with a whisper made for secrets, that Tubbo asks him to shapshift into Tommy. Just once. Just so that he can remember why he's doing all of this. Just so that he can keep his chin up - and hold Dream back and his hunger for destroying L'manburg at bay. </p><p>Jack breathes. Once, as himself, and again as Tubbo's missing friend. Tubbo's shoulders shake when he clings to him, distraught with apologies and begs for forgiveness that Jack cannot give him. It feels odd to borrow Tommy's voice to tell Tubbo that he'll be back soon, and the words feel hollow and weightless as they leave his mouth.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>It continues with prisons and wardens, hotels and homes, and job offer after job offer. Jack is made for assassinations. The man with infinite faces to choose from. </p><p>He looks at his reflection in the mirror of his hotel room. With infinite faces at his disposal, he only wants to wear his own. He wants to wear his own hoodie, his own glasses, his own eyes. He knows, though - he knows that people prefer it when he's somebody else. And if everybody wants it, who is he to let them down?</p><p> </p><p><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>It ends with a wakeup call.</p><p>Power first, person second. Those have been the rules of this place for as long as the powers themselves have existed, so why is it so hard for Jack to accept them?</p><p>He thinks about peace. Thinks about those who have embraced their powers as who they are - despite how much they differ from the people they were before. Peace has been extinct for a long time. Jack can fight the inevitable - or he can let the surface waters of the lake pull him along, spinning him headfirst into this new world.</p><p>Well - he knows what choice the others have made. Nothing left for him to do but follow. </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>something short and sweet. i'm still trying to get used to writing Jack’s character, ahaaa. hope you all enjoyed! i crave validation shamelessly, please comment your thoughts. oh, and if you think there’s any tags I missed, please let me know! </p><p>have a good day/night :)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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